1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications and, more particularly, to methods and systems for providing differentiated services to mobile stations.
2. Description of Related Art
Many businesses and other enterprises are increasingly interested in maintaining their own, private wireless telecommunications networks. Such private wireless networks may provide coverage for mobile stations in only a relatively small geographic area, such as the area within and adjacent to the enterprise's offices. For example, the enterprise's wireless coverage area may comprise one or more “picocells” that are provided by one or more base transceiver stations (BTSs), e.g., using CDMA for wireless communication, or by one or more wireless access points, e.g., using 802.11 for wireless communication.
Within the enterprise's private wireless network, authorized mobile stations may be able to originate and receive calls, e.g., via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), as well as communicate with other mobile stations or landline stations within the enterprise network. Such mobile stations may also be able to engage in wireless communication outside of the enterprise's private wireless network, e.g., using a public wireless network. Thus, when a mobile station engaged in a call moves between the coverage area of the enterprise's private wireless network and the coverage area of the public wireless network, it may be possible to handoff the call between the private and public wireless networks.
In one approach for providing such private wireless networks, a wireless service provider may “host” a private wireless network using some of the same network resources as used for the public wireless network. For example, a wireless service provider may use an MSC or “soft MSC” for an enterprise's private wireless network that is also used for the public wireless network. One difficulty with this approach, however, is that different enterprises may want to provide different services, which, in turn, may be different from the services provided in the public wireless network.
Accordingly, there is a need to differentiate the services provided to mobile stations based on which wireless network the mobile stations are operating in.